Chosen?
by JoshTheWriter
Summary: All my life I've been different. Nobody ever understands why. But now, I finally know. I'm different for a reason, right?
1. Goodbye

_Welcome to **Chosen?**, a story about misfits, destiny and finding a place in the world!_

* * *

The sun dipped low over the trees, the shadows it cast creeping towards me in a malevolent and inexorable march. I crossed my legs and emptied my bag onto the grass in front of me. Berries went rolling across the tangled roots of my tree, tumbling down the small embankment beside the river. I sighed and retrieved them, mentally chastising myself for my carelessness.

I sat back against the tree and dug into my bag for the lone ball that was safely stowed in the secret pocket at the bottom. I clutched it tightly in the palm of my hand and held it against my chest. She really wasn't supposed to leave the sanctuary. She was far too weak. Miss Kida and the others at the orphanage would surely be furious with me.

"One last meal, " I murmured, forgetting my worries about getting into trouble with the adults for a few precious moments. I tapped the ball, releasing my only friend in a flash of light.

The light grew into the fuzzy form of my beloved secret. My beautiful, beloved secret. My beautiful, beloved, mortally ill secret.

I reached out my hand, nuzzling my little eevee under her chin. She cooed and pressed into my hand as I lavished attention on her. I willed the tears away, forcing myself to enjoy my last night with her. I forced out a weak smile and lifted her onto my lap.

"Want something to eat?" I asked, trying and failing to keep my voice from wavering. I picked up one of the pecha berries and offered it to her.

She nudged it away and curled into a ball on my lap. I couldn't help the lump that formed in my throat as I looked down at her short, patchy, pale fur. Miss Kida had said that her colouring was a side effect of some genetic defect. She said . I didn't really care. I lifted the brush I had brought out of my bag and slowly began to brush the few remaining spots of tangles in her pale grey hair.

"Y'know, " I started. "I never had a friend before. You were the first."

She looked up at me with soft, brown eyes and I felt the tears start.

"I've always been alone. Different. Excluded. Miss Kida said that I had a gift, but she always keeps me away from the other children. You are my only friend."

My mind flashed back to the night I watched my precious secret hatch. To the joy that I felt at finally having a friend. To the horror I felt when Miss Kida had told me that she was sick. To the pit in my stomach when she told me that my eevee likely wouldn't make it through the year. What a terrible thing to tell to a child.

"I don't care that you can't battle. I don't care that you don't look like all the other eevee…" My voice trailed off and I choked on a sob that I vainly attempted to hide.

She licked my hand weakly, and I opened my eyes.

"I'm sorry, " I said, pleading for my precious secret's forgiveness. "I'm sorry that I can't make it better." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I just wish that we could be together for so much longer. I wish that we could be together forever."

I closed my eyes as the tears freely fell from my face. They fell into her fur, onto my hands, my shirt, into the dirt. They fell as I wept for my first pokemon. They fell as she curled into my chest and comforted me as best as she could. I couldn't help but cry and hug her closer. They fell as her breathing slowed and finally stopped.

My tears fell into the night as I clutched the frail body of my only friend against my chest.

I don't know how long I sat there. I know that the sun had long since set when I finally stopped. Shadows danced at the edge of my vision, taunting me with formless movements.

"Go away!" I shouted.

They didn't. The shadows crept closer, growing bolder with each passing moment. Hollow yellow eyes peered out at me from the darkness and I knew that I was no longer alone.

I cradled my friend against me, clutching her tightly. These wraiths in the dark were coming for her. I would not let them take her from me.

A disembodied hand reached from the shadows and I couldn't help but let out a terrified sob. I closed my eyes and sobbed uncontrollably as the hand passed through my arms and tore my friend from my grasp.

I shrieked and reached out to take her back, but my eyes fell on a sight that I couldn't believe. My friend's emaciated body lay discarded in the dirt. A disembodied smile grinned back at me and familiar, soft brown eyes stared into mine.

"You're a ghost!" I exclaimed.

The ghastly laughed happily and swirled around me, testing out her new form. She giggled and licked the side of my face with her soft and slimy tongue.

"Now we can be together forever, " I half-shouted as we danced and laughed our way back to Ecruteak.


	2. The Tomb Robber

I crept along the charred remains of the wall, peering through the holes that the fire had left behind so long ago. The Burned Tower was a sacred place, left to the spirits of those who perished in the flames. Somebody had broken in though, and the master had asked me to remove the trespasser before the spirits were roused in anger.

I felt her presence behind me and cast a quick glance back to be sure. My haunter was hovering just over my shoulder, her malevolent gaze peering into the ruins.

"Find them, " I asked. "and quietly. We don't want them bolting before we even know who it is."

She nodded profusely and disappeared through the wall. The only trace of her presence was the oozing layer of pale ectoplasm left behind on the wall.

I ducked under the fallen beam that blocked the doorway and wriggled through the opening. I stood up and scanned the ruined atrium quickly.

Moonlight beamed down through the charred gaps in the ceiling, casting dramatic shadows across the tower's interior. I crept through the atrium with hardly a sound, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. I still did not know where the trespasser was and caution dogged my every step.

I stepped out of the atrium and blinked as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the tower's main room. The intruder's entrance was blindingly obvious, the boards on the tower's grand window laying strewn about the base of the window. A sole path of footprints in the dust led into the darkness, winding across the room in a meandering path.

A pair of chilling yellow eyes emerged from the floor, nearly startling me into shouting in surprise. Haunter was back, and judging by the grin she had found the intruder.

I followed the ghost down the charred grand staircase. She led me to a gaping hole in the ancient wooden floor and disappeared into the darkness.

I sighed and crept closer to the hole, trying to find the floor in the darkness. I spotted it about 10 feet down and braced myself for a hard landing. I slipped through the hole as quietly as I could, landing harder and louder than I had wanted to.

"Who's there?" asked a trembling voice. It was a boy's voice, not much older than my own. He exclaimed in horror and I felt a cold wind whistle through the darkness. "No! Leave me alone!"

I peered into the blackness, finding the faint hint of light creeping from a hallway leading further into the tower. I followed the light, all caution forgotten in my haste. I had to get to the other boy before the spirits decided they'd had enough of our presence.

I rounded the corner at the end of the hallway into a massive room, with a trio of statues standing in the centre. A boy stood in front of the centre statue, his torch held out like a club in front of him. A haunter tore at the end of his makeshift weapon, gnawing on the light with a mischievous grin.

My precious haunter leapt into action without a word from me. Her claws tore the other haunter away from the boy and she dove after the other ghost with abandon. They twisted and curled around each other as they did battle, pinging around the room as they battle for the upper hand.

I must have looked like a ghost emerging from the darkness, because the boy shrieked at the sight of me and leapt nearly a foot in the air. He raised his torch at me as if to attack me before stopping.

He lowered his impromptu club and smiled, happy to see a human face instead of an angry ghost. "You saved me!" he exclaimed. He looked back up at the statue behind him and shone the torch on it. "Isn't she beautiful?" he asked.

I looked up at the statue, trying to make it out in the dim light. "Suicune? I suppose so. But it's just a legend."

The boy turned back to look at me and I could see the frown on his face. "Its not just a legend. My grandfather saw her once. He said that she only shows herself to trainers who are pure of heart."

I glanced around the room, keeping my eyes on the whispers of movement at the edges of the room. More ghosts were creeping from the darkness, watching us with angry eyes. "We must go, " I said. "The spirits have noticed your intrusion."

"What do you mean?" he asked innocently. "I just wanted to see the statue-"

I cut him off with a wave of my arm. "This tower was once a place of worship, " I began, my eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of my friend. "Pokemon and people gathered here to give worship to the God of Rebirth, in the hopes that he would return their loved ones. However, humanity became selfish. We fought great wars for the control of the tower and the favour of the God who used to reside here."

"We did this?" he asked.

I nodded. "Humans who feared the God's power lit a great fire." I gestured out at the ghosts gathering at the edges of the room. "This place is a tomb, the final resting place of thousands of faithful who came for the God's favour." I turned my head to look at him with an angry scowl. "And you have disturbed their graves."

He stepped closer to me, his eyes curiously scanning the edges of the room. "What do we do?" he asked. "I meant no harm."

I sighed and looked out at the ghosts with fear creeping into my mind. Spirits did not take kindly to intrusions of any kind, and were not naturally merciful creatures. Even on the best days, they could be fickle. "We pray that they feel merciful." My eyes scanned the room, desperately searching for my friend as my voice nearly died in my throat. She hadn't returned since the other ghost had led her away from the room. I didn't know whether ghosts could die, but I was not eager to learn the answer.

As if on cue, she burst from the wall. She returned to my side and looked out at the ghosts. I felt my courage return, and found my voice again. "Spirits of the tower, forgive our intrusion. This one is ignorant of our ways, he did not know of your suffering."

The edges of the room rippled and I could feel their displeasure. Even with my bond with my friend, the quake of ghostly power sent a chill down my spine. My stomach twisted into knots and I involuntarily shuddered. And then I could hear them. Their voices roiled and raged against us, overlapping each other and growing in strength.

I was suddenly aware of the boy at my shoulder. He huddled behind me, fear clear in his wavering voice. "I don't like that. They aren't happy."

"No shit, " I hissed, not daring to look away from the ghosts. "Be quiet and let me handle this." I scanned the room, my mind racing. There had to be a way out of this basement, not just the hole I had slipped in through. I nearly wept for joy when I spotted the ladder climbing the wall opposite the statues. That had to be where the boy had slipped into the basement. "When I say, you're going to make for that ladder. Whatever you see or hear, don't stop running until you're back outside."

He nudged closer to me and I felt him shudder. "I have pokemon, I can help you fight."

"No, " I replied. "I'm not fighting them. Just clearing us a path." I spared a glance back at him and my eyes met his. Some part of me registered his eyes as a comforting, soft blue. I cast the useless information away and cleared my mind. "Just run when I tell you."

I looked back at the gathered spirits and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Scary Face!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. I grabbed hold of the boy's hand and dragged him forward, not waiting for my friend to react.

She surged past the both of us, a vicious and malevolent grin growing in darkness above us. The ghosts parted before us, startled by the sudden appearance of the demonic smile. We pushed through the sea of ghosts, making it to the ladder before they could swarm us. I practically shoved the boy halfway up the ladder in my haste, clambering up after him before the ghosts regained their composure.

"Lets go!" I shouted down the hole, praying that my friend would follow me back up to the ground level. I didn't wait to find out as I turned and ran for the opening in the grand window the boy had made.

Dozens of ghosts melted through the floorboards, reaching for us with dead and decaying claws. Their arcane voices called after me, chanting in a hundred dead languages. There had to be hundreds of them following us, as even more dropped from the ruined floors above us.

"Go!" I shouted, urging the boy on. "Keep moving!"

We both made for the window, a mad dash with the dead breathing down our necks. I couldn't hear a thing over the chanting voices, save for my heart pounding in my chest.

We burst out the window, diving free of the haunted tower. I landed in a roll, coming back up on my feet.

The ghosts raged at the boundary of the tower but dared not come further. I stared at them, desperately praying that my dear friend was not trapped inside.

She burst from a window on the second floor, still tangled in battle. She landed in front of me and separated from the other haunter, hissing at her opponent with a hidden viciousness.

I stepped in between her and the other ghost, my usual calm confidence returning now that we were outside the tower. This one ghost had insisted on continuing the battle past the boundaries of its grave. Now it was my duty as a disciple of the monks to keep it from harming anyone.

I didn't know yet how to banish ghosts, only the old masters knew how. They had yet to see fit to bestow that knowledge on me. So I did the only thing I could. I reached out towards the ghost, showing it an outstretched palm. "I am a follower of the old way, sworn to aid those who have passed."

I held in place, praying that the ghost would not tear me to pieces for daring to speak directly to it. Slowly, the haunter's face split into a malevolent grin. It reached out and took my hand with one of its own.

I felt a rush of wind on my face and a furious presence worm itself into my mind. His life flashed before my eyes, a sad and short tale filled with angry predators and tragic loss. It ended as quickly as it began, fire consuming the memories as they flashed through my mind, just as the fire had consumed the ratatta he had once been.

My knees nearly buckled, but I did not break. I stood strong, my eyes never leaving the haunter's tragic gaze. I nodded at my new companion and lowered my hand. "Thank you, " I said quietly.

I heard a shuffle at my side and remembered the other boy. He dusted off his overcoat and straightened himself out. "That was amazing. I've never seen anything like that in my life." He held out a hand to me, a beaming smile worn on his face. "Name's Eusine. Glad to meet you!"

"Morty, " I replied with a cold tone. I turned and went to walk away, pointing up at the Burned Tower. "Never let me catch you in there again."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

I gestured at the second haunter floating behind me. "To explain this to the old masters. It will have been noted." I continued along the path, leaving Eusine behind.

"See you around, Morty!" he called. I didn't dare look back.


	3. A Stepping Stone

I knelt before the altar, deep in meditation. My pair of haunter were circling me, using their abilities to help me pierce the veil. They'd grown in leaps and bounds in the year since I had channeled Rahksa.

The ancient haunter had prompted something in me, shaming me into naming my other haunter. She had never had a name, living barely more than a month as an eevee before her death. The monks had called her '_karsi', _a runt. She loved it when I suggested it, taking the name as a mark of pride.

I glanced up at him. He was old, centuries older than I was. He didn't know where he got the name Rahksa, he couldn't remember much about his life. Maybe he was a trained pokemon at some point. Ultimately, it didn't really matter. He was a ghost now and forevermore.

Rahksa taught us everything he knew, which complemented the teachings of the old masters quite well. The old monks were wary of him, but I refused their request to banish the ancient haunter. He was too valuable to me in multiple ways. Not only was he much stronger than my precious Karsi, he was a repository of knowledge that seemed to be endless. With him, I could easily become one of the foremost experts on ghosts, not to mention a top-tier ghost specialist. Though I was pledged to the Order, I had no delusions of becoming a sheltered hermit like the rest of the old masters. The idea of embarking on my own journey with my ghosts was enticing to say the least.

The old masters had told me of an initiation rite for those joining the order. I would be the youngest member of the order in history and in the process learn about my destiny in the world. It was dangerous, involving using my ghosts to hypnotize myself into a deep trance that would allow me to pierce the veil. Supposedly, I would be able to see very limited glimpses of my future. That alone was enough for me to decide on staying among the monks, at least for a little while longer.

However, I was stuck. For some reason, the hypnosis just kept putting me into a deep sleep, bypassing the trance that I was looking for. I was more rested than I'd been in months. I was also irritable and frustrated by my lack of success.

Eusine entered the meditation room, an excited grin on his face. I saw him enter through eyes that were half shut, but said nothing. He sat and crossed his legs, his hand resting on one of the balls at his waist. He showed up every few months, reappearing after months of hard training.

He was here for a battle. He was always here for a battle.

* * *

"Shadow Ball!" I shouted.

Eusine had come prepared this time. He brought a ghost of his own, a haunter from the burned tower. Rahksa did not like that. I think he held that holy place in contempt, perhaps resenting the centuries trapped in the dark husk of the tower. They'd torn into each other with a ferocity that I had not yet seen from my newest ghost.

Eusine's newest team member had levelled the playing field completely. No longer could my ghosts simply run roughshod over his team with little fear of retaliation. The presence of a ghost on his team told me two things.

One, he wasn't quite as much of an idiot as I'd taken him for. He still liked to wander into dangerous situations, but he was at least slightly capable now.

Two, he had been preparing specifically for this battle. He knew how to fight ghosts now.

Karsi flung the shadow ball at Eusine's hypno, forcing the psychic type to duck under the attack or be knocked out of the battle.

His hypno raised its pendulum instead, conjuring a translucent barrier from the object. The shadow ball hit the light screen and splashed harmlessly off it.

"Psychic, Brutus!"

His hypno raised its arms, eyes flaring with violet light. Karsi shrieked as the air rippled with psychic energy.

"Shadow sneak!" I commanded. She disappeared into the shadows and slunk away from her opponent. Knowing that we had the advantage in a close range battle, I grinned. "Now, shadow claw!"

Karsi burst from the shadows cast by the hypno and lay into the pokemon with claws wreathed in ghostly energy. The hypno roared and spun on the spot, but the damage had been done. There would be no escape.

I didn't even need to issue another command. Karsi savaged the hypno until it disappeared into its ball. She floated over to my side, grinning widely.

"Good try," I called across the field. He'd very nearly defeated me this time, the result of months of intensive training in the wilds of Johto. "Almost had me that time."

He frowned. "But you're still stronger than me. I'll never prove myself strong enough to face suicune if I can't even beat you." He angrily pocketed his hypno's ball and shot me a jealous look. "You're the strongest trainer I've ever met. Why do you waste your time here?"

That took me by surprise. I hadn't known that he'd been thinking about that whatsoever. "I'm not a trainer, Eusine."

"You could be," he replied. He walked across the battlefield to me, a twinkle of inspiration in his eye. He held out a small bag and I instantly knew what was inside. "Take them," he said quietly.

I took the bag and confirmed my suspicions. "I can't," I started. "Not yet,"

"Why not?" He replied quickly. "Because you're afraid of what a few old farts might say?"

I remained silent, which was answer enough for him.

He shook his head and turned to walk away. "I'll be waiting at the Pokemon Centre until tomorrow morning. I'm leaving again."

"Where to this time?"

He frowned. "I was going to Violet City. Figured that I should help you start your gym challenge..." His voice trailed off and he looked away. "Don't know where I'll go now."

I looked down at my feet, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Eusine. My place is here."

He nodded and walked away. I stood there for an uncomfortably long time. I didn't know what to do.

Rahksa woke me from my stupor after over an hour of contemplative thought. I hadn't moved, save for sitting in order to better meditate on the conflict in my heart.

My haunter looked at me, studying me for any crack in my facade. They both knew me better than I knew myself, part of the bond we shared since I channeled the both of them. They knew what I wanted, more than I did myself.

Karsi held out the bag that Eusine had given me with a knowing smile. I took it without question. I looked down at the pair of poke balls in the bag and knew what I had to do.

* * *

I walked into the Pokemon Centre with my head held high. I knew what I wanted. I knew what I had to do. The old masters were just a stepping stone for me, a part of my life that had to end so I could become what I was meant to be. I was going to be the best ghost specialist the world had ever seen. I would surpass even Agatha of the Elite 4, taking my place as a champion if I was worthy enough.

My name is Morty. I am special. I am chosen for greatness...

Right?


End file.
